Chapter 233: Chapter 165, Naval Battle Settlement_2
She could only focus all her attention on commanding the naval battle.
During this time, she had destroyed another Green-Skin Destroyer, and an Escort Ship of the Green Skins had been blown up by the firepower from the Beautiful Lady.
Of the two Escort Ships in the Beautiful Lady Convoy that had been invaded by jumpers, one had returned to normal, while the other had its Void Shield shut down and was subsequently destroyed.
But overall, the enemy still had one Destroyer and two Escort Ships left.
The remaining strength, even just by the Quintet alone, was more than enough to wipe them all out.
Under normal circumstances, such as during drills at school in the past simulations, she would be opening champagne by now, celebrating victory with her colleagues in the command team.
But she dared not now.
On one hand, this was the first real naval battle she faced; she dared not take it lightly, not until all the Green-Skinned Warships were truly destroyed.
The stakes of this battle were immeasurably higher than any drill or simulation she had experienced before.
On the other hand, the huge threat inside the Starship had not been resolved.
And just then, news arrived.
Gu Hang was back and headed straight to the bridge.
“So what’s the exact situation? Did we win or not?” Yelisia asked.
“I…I don’t know.” The naval officer who delivered the message was sweating profusely, “Mr. Gu didn’t say.”
Yelisia slapped her hand, wanting to curse.
Rationally, if they hadn’t won, Gu Hang wouldn’t dare to come over playing coy like this.
It must be a victory.
But without a confirmed message, how could she feel at ease?
In the end, she could only say resentfully, “Let him in.”
No sooner had she spoken than, just a minute later, the door to the bridge command center opened.
Immediately after, a huge head rolled in, like a wheel tumbling in.
Yelisia was startled, the thick stench of blood filling her nostrils almost made her vomit.
She was a military officer, a captain; she had seen her share of dead bodies, but… as someone of her noble status, she rarely set foot on the bloody battlefield herself. Most of the brutal battles were represented before her as reports, a string of numbers, at most some footage to view.
There was no need for someone like her, a high-born noble from a naval family, an esteemed Imperial Navy Commodore, to personally risk her life, was there? Even the service pistol at her waist was merely ceremonial.
But even so, she did not scream.
She braced herself, carefully examining the head that had rolled to the front of her command table.
It was the head of the Beastman Overlord.
She was certain of it.
Looking up, she saw Gu Hang with a pale face but a proud smile, accompanied by two Star Warriors, striding forward.
Standing before the Overlord’s head, Gu Hang said to Yelisia on the command platform, “I told you, this is the start of our path to glory.”
Yelisia’s face also bloomed with a brilliant smile, the blood’s foul scent in her mouth and nose turned sweet.
She would welcome the bloody scent of such an important enemy, even if unpleasant, wanting to savor it more.
“Mr. Gu, you are a hero.”
It seemed she no longer minded that Gu Hang had subtly threatened her with the Rage Owl Star Troops boarding the ship before the battle.
It was not her magnanimity, but rather victory could overshadow all discord.
The war was won, the benefits to her were incalculable. She not only didn’t mind Gu Hang’s earlier threats, but from the bottom of her heart, she was grateful that Mr. Gu helped her to strengthen her resolve.
If she had missed out on this merit, that would have been a great pity.
…
The death of the Beastman Overlord was a significant piece of good news. She finally didn’t need to worry that, amid the fighting, her own starship would explode from the inside out.
Had it not been for the ongoing space naval battle outside the starship, with Green Skin ships still charging, she certainly would have prepared a welcoming ceremony in line for the soon-to-return Gu Hang.
Now she could finally devote all her attention to commanding the naval battle. With the unease swept from her mind, she commanded the fight with a buoyant spirit and a settled heart, feeling even the gunfire became more accurate and fierce.
In contrast, upon noticing that the fighting inside the ‘Quintet’ had calmed and the entire ship was no longer in chaos or affected by disorganized combat, the remaining few ships of the Green Skin Fleet seemed to realize that their leader had really gotten themselves into trouble this time.
Despite the lack of concrete news, they still started to show hesitation. They didn’t flee but stopped charging, hesitantly exchanging fire with the Quintet and the Beautiful Lady that had caught up from behind at a certain distance.
This was obviously a losing strategy.
After another main destroyer was destroyed, the remaining three Green-Skin Frigates lost even the courage to continue fighting and directly chose to flee.
But by the time they thought of escaping, it was already too late to run away.
The Quintet chased after them, taking advantage of the long-range firepower to start picking them off one by one.
In the end, as the three Green-Skin Frigates activated their jump drives, desperately trying to escape into the Star Realm Tunnel, their propulsion failed, their Shield System failed, and they were all blown up before the jump could even begin.
Destroying Green Skin ships was not a painful ordeal.
The Green Skin Orcs’ starships were usable only to them. For humans, even if captured, they were just a pile of junk, totally inoperable and beyond understanding how such a heap of rubble could navigate stably through space.
After all of the Green Skin warships were eliminated, combat results popped up in Gu Hang’s view.
[A resounding victory, earned 1401 points of grace]
[Naval part: Lost 2, Destroyed 12]
[Beautiful Lady Convoy (Allied): Lost 2, Destroyed 2]
[Imperial Navy (Allied): Lost 0, Destroyed 10]
[Ground combat part: Lost 13,468, Killed 2,623]
[Beautiful Lady Convoy (Allied): Lost 5,569, Killed 823]
[Imperial Navy (Allied): Lost 3,763, Killed 508]
[Phoenix Battle Group (Allied): Lost 0, Killed 63]
[Rage Owl Star Troops: Lost 4,136, Killed 1,229]
…
This battle’s settlement page was a bit special, with the naval part being settled separately, and the destruction of ships had almost nothing to do with Gu Hang.
However, the ground combat was more closely related to him.
The damage from the orcs’ boarding and combat was substantial. Those who boarded were elite forces. The reason the Beautiful Lady Convoy suffered over five thousand losses was that an Escort Ship had been nearly massacred after being boarded. As the fight dragged on, many sailors were as good as unarmed, so the casualties were bound to be high.
The Quintet had elite ground forces and numerous armed sailors. But the biggest loss came during the attack led by Genie Kuangya, as too many people died without inflicting significant casualties on the Green Skins.
Only Gu Hang’s battle yielded a relatively better casualty ratio, mainly because heavy firepower couldn’t be used. He could only fight the Green Skins hand-to-hand, which was a disadvantage, coupled with the many extra casualties paid to kill the Beastman Overlord.
The battle was actually quite short-lived, especially when compared to the nearly two-month battle at the High Tower Ruins, where the annihilation of the Green Skin Tribe took place. This battle, particularly the ground combat, probably only lasted a few hours in total.
But the intensity of the battle was immense.
Based on Gu Hang’s estimates, just looking at the Green Skins killed, the awarded grace points should be in the hundreds. Even if those Green Skins were more elite, with quite a several killing machines and terror tanks and the like, they shouldn’t be in the thousands.
That was according to the ratio worked out in the settlement of the battle at the High Tower Ruins. In that two-month campaign, his forces killed fifteen thousand Green Skins and only earned a little over two thousand grace points.
However, this time the thousand or so kills earned thousands of grace points.
The biggest difference was probably due to that Beastman Overlord’s head.
At this point, Gu Hang still had to feel fortunate that the one who got the final kill was Lacroix, one of his soldiers.
If the final kill had been taken by Matins, then the victory would’ve been credited to the allied forces that didn’t award grace points, and the settlement would probably result in many fewer grace points.
“I must award that lad a heavy medal!”